Councillors' pay second highest

Over a million pounds of public money is being consumed by Hillingdon councillors as part of their annual pay and allowances.

A soaring total of £1,303,642 is allocated to the councillors in the borough, the second highest in the whole of London.

The information, which emerged through a Freedom of Information request, also shows council leader Ray Puddifoot has an income of £60,853 a year, the seventh highest of all the council leaders in London.

That is £35,000 higher than the earnings of the council leader in neighbouring Harrow, and £21,000 more than Ealing.

The total amount awarded to councillors is also nearly £700,000 more than that allocated in Harrow, and around £300,000 more than Ealing, but this can be attributed to the fact that Hillingdon is the second largest borough in London.

Council Leader Ray Puddifoot, said: "The rates are based on advice from an independent panel at London Councils, who base it on the amount of work we have to do.

"The residents also have an option where if they are not getting value for money then they can vote us out. It's the view of residents that matters.

"We are also the seccond largest borough in the whole of London and we also have all the issues of a major London airport to deal with.

"The main issue is there is a lot going on and we do it well."

London Councils chief executive John O'Brien also defended the payments. He said: "London's council leaders play an important and hugely challenging role running multi-million pound organisations.

"Leaders, like all councillors, are driven by a desire to make their areas better places to live, work and visit. They can work around 150 hours a month.

"In return they receive a median salary of around £48,000, around £4,500 less than the basic fee for a non-executive director of a FTSE 100 company - and much less than backbench MPs who aren't responsible for running services."

Councillor Mike Cox leader of the Hillingdon Lib Dem group said: "It's official. Hillingdon have entered the Premier League of councillors' pay. Unfortunately Hillingdon are receiving Rymans League services.

"Only the Liberal Democrat councillors voted against the massive pay hike in 2007 and have continued to vote against it ever since. This level of expenditure is simply not value for money."